Goldey-Beacom won a back-and-forth battle against its local rival and made it three straight victories with a 70-66 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference triumph over Wilmington in Newark, DE.
The opening half belonged to sophomore Nazim Derry (Atlantic City, NJ), who was on fire to the tune of 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting and 4-of-5 from 3-point range in helping Goldey-Beacom gain a 45-33 lead. He also scored six points during a half-ending 24-12 run in which the visitors shot 8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-8 from beyond the arc.
Freshman Kevon Ferguson (Brooklyn, NY) netted all seven of his first-half points in that spurt for the Lightning.
The second half was a major tussle that was deadlocked at 61 when Ferguson made a layup to give Goldey-Beacom (8-7, 5-2 CACC) a two-point lead with 3:23 left. Following a defensive stop, sophomore Mekhi Collins (Medford, MA) got a massive layup with 3:09 to go for a four-point game.
Danny Walsh, who tonight reached 1,000 career points for the Wildcats, drilled two free throws with 2:36 left for a 65-63 deficit. After the Lightning missed twice on their end, Walsh canned a 3-pointer with 2:03 left for a 66-65 Wilmington lead.
Senior Tyler Jones (Lawrenceville, NJ) nailed two free throws with 54 seconds to play that gave GBC a 67-66 lead. Wilmington again looked for the lead, but Taalib Holloman missed a 3-pointer and Jones corralled a big rebound.
Now it was time to see what the Lightning could do and it was Jones who answered the bell, all but ending the game thanks to a massive 3-pointer with 17 seconds left for the final.
Derry ended with 18 points and four 3-pointers, Jones recorded 13 points and seven rebounds with Ferguson scoring a career-high 12 points, helping GBC to its sixth straight win over Wilmington and fourth consecutive in Newark.
Walsh netted 24 points and Randy Rickards added 12 for the Wildcats (4-12, 1-5).
Goldey-Beacom on Saturday steps out of conference to host Staten Island, beginning at 1:00 pm.
